


a text says more than a thousand words

by liefdewint



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: After the Fall, Angst, Friendship, Gen, Texting, but angsty at the same time, like sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 10:37:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liefdewint/pseuds/liefdewint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>after Sherlock fell, they never found his mobile phone. And John needs someone to talk to...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the fall: John

04/05/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
You jumped. Why?  
JW

Number no longer is service

19/05/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
People seem to want to know how I feel and how I’m doing. How can I tell them that this feels even worse than being shot at? This is being shot at by a friend. It sucks.  
JW

Number no longer is service

21/05/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
Your brother came by today. I ignored him and he made tea. We both know it wasn’t our role that we were playing.  
JW

Number no longer is service

04/06/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
It’s been a month since your fall. Shouldn’t I feel better? Even just a tiny bit?  
JW

Number no longer is service

10/06/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
Why do I still text you? Maybe because they never found your phone. I can just imagine it. You in your coffin and your phone next to you vibrating away. Actually, I can’t or better I don’t want to.  
JW

Number no longer is service

15/06/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
Greg (Lestrade, remember) kissed your brother today. The look on Mycroft’s face would’ve been hilarious, if it wasn’t for how cute he was when he returned the kiss. I guess they deserve to be happy. At least that’s two people…  
JW

Number no longer is service

23/06/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
Mrs. Hudson took your skull. Don’t worry, I took it back.  
JW

Number no longer is service

30/06/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
I don’t know why Mrs. Hudson hasn’t thrown me out yet. I quit my job after you… you know, and I haven’t paid rent since then. Maybe she has taken pity on me, or maybe Mycroft has taken over the financial part of my life. I don’t know which one I’d hate most.

Number no longer is service

08/07/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
I’ve got nightmares again. I wished it was about the war. Everything would be better than seeing your head hit the street. You know all the streets of London, by heart. I have my own street plan as well now. Roads of blood trickling in the seams of the sidewalk.  
JW

Number no longer is service

28/07/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
We’re out of milk again. And jam. And bread. And tea.  
JW

Number no longer is service

04/08/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
Yesterday I bumped into this tall man, who looked exactly like you, until I looked closely. Isn’t that great? Now I’m seeing illusions as well!  
JW

Number no longer is service

19/07/2012  
to: Sherlock Holmes  
I miss you. Please come back.  
JW

19/07/2012  
from: Sherlock Holmes  
Turn around.  
SH


	2. the fall: Sherlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock needs someone to talk to aswell

04/05/2012  
To: John  
It was for you, you know. Please, do believe me.  
SH

Message deleted

10/05/2012  
To: John  
American policemen are even stupider than British ones. Talking about stupid how is Lestrade?  
SH

Message deleted

17/05/2012  
To: John  
I hate racing through streets, chasing criminals. Alone.  
SH

Message deleted

21/05/2012  
To: John  
Mycroft called again. He’s an idiot.  
SH

Message deleted

28/05/2012  
To: John  
Why can’t anybody speak ENGLISH? Even Australians fail to get the sounds right! And they have the same queen for heaven’s sake.  
(They do, don’t they?)  
SH 

Message deleted

31/05/2012  
To: John  
I wish I was bored again and could shoot smiley-faces in the wall and that you’d yell at me.  
SH

Message deleted

03/06/2012  
To: John  
How long has it been since I’ve last eaten? I stopped counting the days. I do know it’s been 40 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes since… I left.  
SH

Message deleted

05/06/2013  
To: John  
I bought me an oatmeal jumper. I have to admit it, they are comfortable  
SH

Message deleted

09/06/2012To: John  
How do you nurse a shot wound?  
SH

Message deleted

13/06/2012  
To: John  
Pass me a pen.  
SH 

Message deleted

16/06/2012  
To: John  
Why is Mycroft so sickly happy for dating Lestrade (what was his first name again? Ted?). Caring is not an advantage. Take it from someone who’d know, it isn’t.  
SH

Message deleted

20/06/2012  
To: John  
I’m halfway through. I’m almost back. Wait for me?  
SH

Message deleted

25/06/2012  
To: John  
The final four are hiding in London. I’ll be backing home soon.  
SH

Message deleted

30/06/2012  
To: John  
You look like crap. So do I.   
SH

Message deleted

03/08/2012  
To: John  
Stupid of me. We bumped into each other. For a moment I thought you had recognized me. Thank god for the sleepless and foodless weeks I’ve had.  
SH

Message deleted

01/07/2012  
To: John  
The more dangerous a criminal seems, the stupider he actually is. Only one to go.  
SH

Message deleted

19/07/2012  
To: John  
Did you change the locks?  
SH

Message deleted

19/07/2012  
From: John  
I miss you. Please come back.  
JW

19/07/2012  
To: John  
Turn around.  
SH


	3. the fall: the return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and then he was back

John stared at his mobile phone. His body was frozen, unable to do anything else than stare at the words on his display. Was this another cruel trick of his mind? How long hadn’t he been sending text messages? First because he kept believing that his own miracle would come true, later just for the soothing therapy it provided him with. He could text things he couldn’t tell anyone else. He stopped hoping for a miracle weeks ago, the last text a desperate last attempt at getting the impossible. _The_ _impossible_. Yet the words on his screen were very real. Maybe if he turned around, _he_ would be real as well. But what if he wasn’t? Was he ready to face yet another disappointment? And what if he _was_? Could things ever go back to normal?

“John?” a cranky, tired, but mostly nervous voice behind him asked. He sounded different, almost unrecognizable, but John had no doubt who this was. He turned around, both expecting and not expecting the room to be empty. Yet there he was. His hair was longer, his face paler and his clothes were too big for his slim body. Only his eyes had remained the same. That silvery blue colour, cold for those who didn’t bother to seek the warmth in them.  
“John?” he asked again.

He didn’t know how it happened. The sight of Sherlock made his still frozen body finally defrost, just long enough to punch him in the face, hard enough that Sherlock stumbled and fell, before going down himself and clamping on to his best friend whom he had believed to be death. Sherlock just hold on to him, while he cried for all the unnecessary grief and all the lost moments in their lives.

Once the worst was over, he made Sherlock speak about what happened to Moriarty, whose body was never found, just a pool of blood; about the jump; how he survived and why he didn’t come back immediately. Sherlock patiently answered his questions, and for once didn’t become annoyed by his slowness. Only when John asked why he did what he did, since he was (of course) not a phony, Sherlock refused to answer. He refused to say anything else than ‘To save what was necessary to save.’

Only when the hands of the clock indicated four in the morning, they started talking about how John had done. There wasn’t much to say. He visited Sherlock’s grave once a week and that was all he did. Sometimes Lestrade took him to a pub or asked for is medical advice at a crime scene, but the longer it took John to be okay again, the less it happened.

When they finally went to their beds, they both realized they weren’t done talking yet, there were still lots of unanswered questions, nor were they back to normal yet, but the first step was taken, the first brick was laid and time would heal their wounds, as long as they were together.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm posting this here as a friendship fic. I have two other romantic chapter, but I'm not sure if I like them as much as I like these ones. let me know if you'd like to read them as well.  
> follow me on [tumblr](http://dreamy-pie.tumblr.com/)


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